Handing out the Sunday NFL game balls

Let’s go back and hand out some game balls from the Week 14 Sunday schedule in the NFL. Five players that stood out from my perspective.

ICONJones-Drew had 4 total TDs in the Jags 41-17 win over the Bucs.

Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars: The Jacksonville RB scored 4 TDs and posted 136 total yards (77 rushing, 51 receiving) as the Jags beat up on the Bucs 41-17. A sign of a true veteran that continues to produce at a high level when the Jags are just playing out the schedule in December.

Eli Manning, Giants: Another fourth quarter comeback from the Giants’ QB in a game that gives New York control of the NFC East with three weeks left on the schedule. Manning throws for 400-yards and 2 TD as the Giants beat the Cowboys 37-34 on the road.

T.J. Yates, Texans: The rookie QB deserves some hype after taking the Texans' offense down the field in the final two-minutes and throwing a TD to win on the road vs. the Bengals. Yates posted 300-yards for the 10-3 Texans and answered some questions about his ability to handle a crucial game situation in a playoff push.

Rob Gronkowski, Patriots: Gronkowski breaks the single season TD record at the TE position and also chips in 160-yards receiving (on six receptions) as the Pats win 34-27 down in D.C. And as I wrote in my game notes, if you are going to play man coverage vs. Gronkowski inside of the red zone, it is a matchup Tom Brady and the Patriots are going to win.

Matt Ryan, Falcons: I thought about putting Drew Brees in here after his 4th quarter production vs. the Titans, but Ryan’s 4 TD passes in the comeback win over the Panthers makes the list. The QB tosses three TDs in the second half after Atlanta trailed 23-7 in a game they had to get to stay in the Wild Card hunt.

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